Ella’s eyes opened at an instant. Immediately, they started stinging as she inhaled a toxic scent.
She sat up then, catching a glimpse of the infirmary. She would’ve taken time to wonder how she got there, but something caught her eye.
Small fires scattered across the wooden floor, the bright golden flames eating all the fabric of the sheets, turning the white to a coal black.
The embers jumped from bed to bed, setting each a flame.
Ella stood at an instant, her bare feet landing on the burning floor. She hoped to catch a breath as the smoke waved around the room, coating the oxygen with its choking grey haze.
She tried to look around, to maybe find an exit, but her eyes were stinging with the acidic air and tears were blurring her vision.
As she lost air, and her lungs wailed in agony, she caught a glimpse of a door a couple yards away.
And her adrenaline kicked in.
All reasoning, all fear, and the need for oxygen vanished. The infirmary dissolved into a world of fire, and all she could see was the door.
Ella ran. She broke into a sprint to the door, reaching it within seconds. Closing her hand around the knob, she shoved it open, breaking the hinges, and the wood went flying.
At first when she exited the room, she thought she heard someone call her name. Scream it maybe. But as the door smashed to pieces on the ground thirty feet below her, all she heard were the snaps and crackles of the fire.
Wait...
She was... upstairs?
And... the staircase was blocked with fire?
Ella screamed a curse and dug her fingers through her hair.
All her emotions spun through her head like a tornado, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes as she became more and more terrified.
This was it... this was where she met her end.
She didn’t know why... why this was her life. What did she do to deserve this?
She was about to scream a curse again but she heard someone call her.
“Ella!”
She looked down to find a tall, lean boy stand thirty feet below her. It took a moment to recognize who it was until she saw his black hair curling at his forehead with sweat. His skin also glistened...
Ella felt her insides start burning, though she wasn’t sure whether it was the fire or not.
“Prince Blake...?” she wondered to herself.
“Ella!” he screamed, holding out his arms as if he could catch her. “Ella, jump!”
That’s when her stomach surged and she started shaking. The thought of jumping off a banister horrified her. The feeling of her stomach dropping and her heart racing.
“Jump, Ella!” Blake shouted.
“I can’t!” she responded back, but her tone was full of icy fear while his was a fiery protectiveness.
“JUMP!” Blake yelled harshly.
Tears burst at his angry tone. She took a step back, trembling from head to toe. “No! Please, I can’t!”
His expression calmed, and she could hear his soft tone through the cracks of the fire.
“Princess, jump. It’s okay. I promise I’ll catch you.”
Ella stared off in horror, looking right to left. Did someone just talk? Was that in her head? Was she hallucinating?
When she started panting, the voice came into her head again.
“Princess,” the voice pleaded, “I need you to jump. Please, I’m begging you.”
Ella looked down at Blake, whose arms were still outstretched as if he were offering an embrace, offering comfort. But she knew she would never be comforted. Not in ten years, not in a hundred. She would be a maid for her entire life.
“Are you...” she whispered, “speaking to my mind...?”
“Princess, I need you to jump, okay? I can explain things later.”
“I can’t!” Ella cried. “I can’t jump!”
“I’ll catch you, I promise, Princess. Jump.”
For some reason, she felt a little assurance creep up in her mind. She didn’t know where it came from, nor how she felt it toward a complete stranger, but it was there.
She had to choose… be burned to death or jump off the top level and risk breaking everything in her body…
It was then she took careful steps toward the broken banister, her arms and legs shaking worse as she got closer to the cliff.
This was the Prince... the person who was supposed to rule everyone once his father died... Ella should trust him… right…?
She couldn’t get attached… She shouldn’t get close…
Once she got to the edge, she saw a bundle of debris fall from where her foot slid and shatter into pieces when they hit the ground.
Ella let out a soft whimper, wrapping her arms around herself, attempting to stop her stomach from quivering.
Don’t even think about it, just jump, Blake told her.
Ella closed off all thoughts of fear and hauled herself over the banister.
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